The Start of Something
by MissBellFlower
Summary: DR:AE. Non-Despair AU. It's been about a year since everything changed for Nagisa and his friends. But it's only been about a week since he discovered that he might have developed a crush on a high school girl.


Why yes, I do ship Komaru/Nagisa. I'm actually a sucker for this type of pairing (ie. shota having a crush on an older girl).

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><p>About a year ago, everything changed for Nagisa and his friends. It was almost like a blur. At Hope's Peak High School, a series of events happened that led to people taking action, investigations being done, and the school coming clean with its research and all the things they've done. Of course, there was an outrage, but those issues were resolved before anything could get out of hand.<p>

As expected, those investigations reached the elementary school. All of those things that were done to those students were exposed. What they have all been through came to the surface.

The schools weren't closed down, but conditions improved, at least.

Finally, they were saved. No one turned away. They were taken away from the adults that hurt them. Those adults finally received some kind of punishment. None of his friends believed they were punished enough, but Nagisa thinks that's just part of being a kid. You're not satisfied with what you got, even if it wasn't necessarily bad.

It wasn't just at school that things got better for them. Their lives improved bit by bit. Masaru stopped associating fear with alcohol and his father. Kotoko didn't go into a panic when she heard "that word." Even Jataro was learning to not hate himself. Nagisa felt a weight lifted off of him when there was no extraordinary expectations he had go beyond. He wasn't sure about Monaka, though. She wasn't in the school anymore. He didn't think she was even in Towa City anymore.

That was another thing. He discovered that he didn't love Monaka. It was just admiration. It was probably because she acted as a leader during a dark time.

Nagisa didn't have to fear seeing his father at school, either. That man was no longer working at the school. He didn't care what happened to his birth parents. The people who were taking care of him now were nice. They gave him praise, love, safety, freedom—things he never got from his parents.

One of things he enjoyed doing with his new freedom was to go to the park by himself and read. Sure, Masaru teased him and called him weird for "doing THAT?!" Nagisa didn't care about what he said. He was one for simple pleasures.

It was a normal day when it happened. He went straight to the park once school was out. He recently started a new book. It was a little thicker that the book he normally read and he was on the second chapter (not that he remembered those details or anything). He was finishing up the chapter when she came up to him.

"Is somebody sitting here?"

Nagisa looked up. A high school girl. With an ahoge. "No. You can sit here." She didn't look like she was from around here.

"Thank you." And she took the seat right next to him.

A few minutes passed in awkward silence before she began to talk. "So, what are you reading?"

"Just something I've been meaning to read. The author's foreign."

"Oh, that's nice. I'm more for manga than novels, myself."

"What type?" He wasn't really interested, but she really seemed to be enthusiastic about it.

"Oh! Well, I read whatever's popular, but my favorite type is shojo manga!" Her eyes seem to light up.

Nagisa saved his spot. "That's the romancy and sparkly type, right?" He wasn't one for manga.

She pouted. "It's not just that!" And she began to go on about what makes a good shojo manga.

She continued going on about her passion for the rest of their time together. At some point, Nagisa stopped half-listening to her and gave her his full attention. He didn't know how long she talked for, but she noticed that she got carried away.

"Ah! Is it already that time?! I'm sorry, I have to go!" She quickly gathered her thing and left. And then she turned and walked back to him. "Oh, right. I forgot to tell you my name. I guess I should since we talked so much. My name's Naegi Komaru. I recently moved here and I attend the local high school."

"Shingetsu Nagisa. I go to Hope's Peak Elementary School."

"Hope's Peak has an elementary school?" She seemed more surprised about the elementary school than about him attending Hope's Peak.

"Yeah. You didn't know?"

"Apparently not. You know, my older brother recently graduated from Hope's Peak High School."

"Really?" He wondered what his talent is.

""I wish I could talk more, but I really have to go. It was nice talking to you, Nagisa-kun!" And then she really left.

"She called me by my given name." he thought. He actually liked the sound of it coming from her.

He watched her turn the corner. "But you're the one who did most of the talking." He mumbled.

That was a week ago. He was sitting in the same spot. Since their meeting, he hasn't stopped thinking about her. It made him feel weird whenever he thought about her, but in a good way. He wanted to see her again. He wanted to be close to her. Was this a crush? Did he have a crush on a high school girl?

He was too deep in thought to notice that Komaru came by.

"Oh! You're here again!"

Nagisa snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, hi."

She giggled as she sat down. "Were you waiting for me?"

"N-no! This is my usual spot!"

She giggled again. "How far are you on that book?"

"I finished it."

"Wow. That's impressive."

"You think so?"

"Well, it looked like a difficult book, so…" she trailed off.

Another silence passed before Komaru started up another conversation.

"Are you always here?"

"I often go here, yes."

"You know, once a week I have to wait for a friend, so I go here."

He made a sound of affirmation. So, she would come here every week.

"You want to make this a weekly thing? Just you and me talking."

He thought about it. He did want to see her more. "Yeah, I'd like that," He hesitated on the next part, "Komaru…onee…chan."

He looked away. He felt his face heat up. Komaru just smiled.


End file.
